The Well-Tempered Ear
Four local classical musicians perform Black women composers in a virtual holiday concert to benefit the health of Black women
1 Comment
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
The Wisconsin Ensemble (WE) Project, a quartet of local classical musicians, has announced that it will host a holiday concert to support Dane County-based non-profit, the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness (FFBWW, below).
The concert will be the first in a series of performances to benefit local and international organizations working for social justice and human interest.
This unique effort is rooted in the quartet’s desire to not only delve deeply into chamber music repertoire, but also to address some of the many pressing social justice issues of our time.
This recorded, virtual YouTube concert will be available at https://wisconsinensembleproject.com from 6 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 25, through 6 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 3. — times are CST — where contributions will be accepted via PayPal.
Viewers will hear the story and see the face of the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness woven through quality chamber music by Black women composers performed by WE Project artists violinists Leanne League and Mary Theodore (below ends, in a photo by Katrin Talbot); violist Christopher Dozoryst (second from right); and cellist Karl Lavine. The four play together in the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.
Pieces they will perform include Strum (heard in the YouTube video at the bottom) and Voodoo Dolls by Jessie Montgomery (below top, in a photo by Jiyang Chen); Modes by Dorothy Rudd Moore (below center); and String Quartet in G Major by Florence Price (below bottom).
“This production offers viewers a meaningful program which leads to direct impact,” says WE Project member Mary Theodore who has been working with Foundation staff to coordinate the benefit over the last few weeks.
”We felt strongly about the work of the Foundation as we learned more about their mission to eliminate the startling health and economic disparities Black women face in our community,” adds Theodore. “When you donate and tune in to our concert, you will be helping to cover basic production costs and getting funds directly into the hands of this very worthy organization”.
Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness CEO Lisa Peyton-Caire (below), who launched the Black women’s health advocacy organization in 2012, says the concert is a beautiful example of how community and organizations can partner to drive social change together.
“We are elated that WE Project chose us as their first benefit recipient, and that our mission and work to transform Black women’s health in Wisconsin resonated with them,” said Peyton-Caire. “We know that ultimately it takes all of our effort to solve the inequities in our community, and this benefit concert is a beautiful example of the loving and creative ways we can join forces to do this.”
To learn more about the concert, visit https://wisconsinensembleproject.com, where you can contribute via PayPal anytime beginning now through Jan. 3.
To listen to a recent morning coffee chat between members of the two organizations, go to: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=431169757916539&ref=watch_permalink. Click on individual profiles to hear them.
To learn more about The Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness, visit https://ffbww.org.
Tags: #BenefitConcert, #BlackComposer, #BlackLivesMatter, #BlackWomen, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #ChiefExecutiveOfficer, #ChristmasConcert, #ChristopherDozoryst, #CivilRights, #ClassicalMusicians, #ConcertSeries, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #DaneCounty, #DorothyRuddMoore, #economicimpact, #EqualRights, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FlorencePrice, #FoundationforBlackWomen'sWellness, #HolidayConcert, #HomeWebsite, #HumanInterest, #IncomeDisparity, #JacobStockinger, #JessieMontgomery, #LeanneLeague, #LisaPeyton-Caire, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #NewYear's, #NewYear'sConcert, #OnlineConcert, #PayPal, #PublicHealth, #RecordedMusic, #SocialActivism, #SocialChange, #SocialJustice, #StringMusic, #StringPlayers, #StringQuartet, #SystemicRacism, #TheEar, #TuneIn, #VirtualConcert, #VoodooDolls, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WisconsinEnsembleProject, #WomanComposer, #WomenComposers, #YouTubeChannel, #YouTubevideo, accept, address, advocacy, announce, Arts, audience, available, basic, beautiful, benefit, benefit concert, black, black composer, Black composers, Black Lives Matter, Black women, blog, cellist, Cello, CEO, Chamber music, chat, Chief Executive Organization, Christmas, Christmas concert, Christopher Dozoryst, civil rights, Classical music, classical musician, click, community, composer, concert series, contribution, conversation, coordinate, coronavirus, cost, cover, create, creative, Dane County, December, deep, delve, desire, direct, disparity, donate, donation, Dorothy Rudd Moore, economic, effort, eliminate, equal rights, example, face, Facebook, Facebook post, Facebook posting, feel, feminist, FFBWW, Florence Price, force, forward, foundation, Foundation for Black Women's Wellness, funds, hands, Health, help, Holiday, holiday concert, home website, host, human interest, impact, Income Disparity, inequity, international, issues, Jacob Stockinger, January, Jessie Montgomery, join, Karl Lavine, KarlLavine, launch, Leanne League, like, link, Lisa Peyton-Caire, listen, local, Love, loving, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, meaningful, mision, mission, Modes, morning, Music, New Year, New Year's concert, non-profit, online, organization, pandemic, perform, performances, piece, post, posting, pressing, production, profile, program, project, Public health, quality, Quartet, racism, racist, recorded, recorded music, repertoire, repertory, rooted, series, share, social activism, social change, social justice, staff\, string music, string players, String quartet, strum, support, systematic racism, tag, The Ear, time, together, transform, tune in, unique, United States, viewer, Viola, Violin, violinist, violist, virtual, Voodoo, Voodoo Dolls, ways, we, Website, weeks, wellness, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Ensemble Project, women, women composer, women composers, working, worthy, YouTube
Classical music: How can classical music be made less white? Nine Black artists suggest changes. Which ones will work best?
3 Comments
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
With all the attention given to and urgency of the Black Lives Matter movement — and other demonstrations and protests against personal and systemic racism as well as white privilege — it comes as no surprise that questions are being raised about the overwhelmingly white world of classical music and how to change it.
Most of the local classical music groups The Ear knows of have posted statements of solidarity.
If he recalls correctly, they include the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Madison Opera, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Wisconsin Union Theater, the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO), the Middleton Community Orchestra, the Willy Street Chamber Players and many others.
But beyond declarations of solidarity with people of color, the music groups face deeper issues that require action, not just words, and remain more difficult to solve: How to attract more Black classical musicians? How to foster more Black composers? And how to attract more Black audiences?
Diversity and equity are long-term issues, and quite a number of possible solutions loom.
Would performing more pieces, both historical and contemporary, by Black composers (below) work?
Would hiring more Black resident musicians help?
Would booking more Black guest artists and soloists help? (Below is the young and upcoming British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason.)
Would changing the music curriculum in schools help? (Some important Black composers are explored in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Would generating more support to and from the Black community help?
Last week The New York Times did a fine piece of work in addressing these issues.
The reporter and music editor asked nine different accomplished Black conductors, instrumentalists, singers, critics and administrators in classical music about how to solve the inequity. The interviews were condensed and edited into very readable statements.
Here is a link to that story: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/16/arts/music/black-classical-music-opera.html
Please read it.
Then let us know which suggestions you think should be attempted first and which solutions are most likely to work.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #AmericanComposer, #BlackComposer, #BlackLivesMatter, #BlackMozart, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #ChevalierdeSaint-Georges, #ChoralMusic, #ClassicalMusician, #ContemporaryComposers, #CulturalDiversity, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FlorencePrice, #GreatBritain, #GuestArtist, #HistoricalFigure, #JacobStockinger, #Kanneh-Mason, #LivingComposers, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MiddletonCommunityOrchestra, #MusicCritic, #MusicEducation, #NewYorkCity, #NewYorkTimes, #PeopleofColor, #residentmusicians, #ScottJoplin, #ShekuKanneh-Mason, #SocialChange, #SystemicRacism, #TheEar, #TheNewYorkTImes, #TheUK, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VocalMusic, #WhitePrivilege, #WilliamGrantStill, #WillyStreetChamberPlayers, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #WisconsinYouthSymphonyOrchestras, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #WyntonMarsalis, #YoungArtist, #YouTubevideo, action, address, administrator, Arts, attention, attract, audience, black, Black Lives Matter, Black Mozart, blog, Book, Britain, British, brown, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, change, Chevalier de Saint Georges, choral music, Classical music, classical musician, classicalmusic, community, composer, concerto, conductor, contemporary, critic, deeper, demonstration, different, difficult, diversity, edit, editor, ensemble, equity, explore, Facebook, Florence Price, forward, foster, generate, group, guest artist, historical, important, inequity, instrumentalist, interview, issue, Jacob Stockinger, link, living composers, local, long-term, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Mead Witter School of Music, Middleton Community Orchestra, movement, Mozart, Music, Music education, New York City, New York Times, opera, Orchestra, overwhelming, people of color, performer, personal, philosophy, Piano, piece, post, posting, privilege, protest, question, racism, raise, readable, resident, resident musicians, Scott Joplin, share, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, singer, social change, solidarity, soloist, solve, statement, story, strings, suggestions, support, surprise, symphony, systemic, systemic racism, tag, The Ear, The New York Times, UK, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, upcoming, urgency, UW-Madison, Viola, Violin, violinist, vocal music, white, white privilege, William Grant Still, Willy Street Chamber Players, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Union Theater, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, work, world, Wynton Marsalis, young, young artist, YouTube
Recent Comments
The Well-Tempered Ear 